City officials discussed Monday and Tuesday new services included in Mayor Paul Soglin's proposed operating budget they say will enhance safety and quality of living throughout the city.
The budget includes funding for a position whose job would be to upkeep housing downtown and ensure landlords do not violate housing codes.
In other housing issues, the board proposed a new position to take inventory of all the types of housing in Madison, including those for students and young professionals, and to provide an analysis from the results.
""This will give [the city] a better picture on what housing is available and future housing developments we will need,"" Ald. Scott Resnick, District 8, said.
Another position Resnick said he was ""happy to see added"" was an ""all-inclusive person"" who will better coordinate between the city's committees to address neighborhood issues throughout Madison.
The person in the position will ensure neighborhood issues such as human services, police and street maintenance are addressed and will strengthen neighborhoods in the city.
In addition, the board decided to keep the downtown safety initiative budget—the standard budget for downtown safety used to fund extra officers on weekends and on Badger football game days—the same at $50,000 per year.
Another discussion Resnick led at the meeting was to use student service-learning work to develop technological applications for the city, specifically iPhone and Android applications, to save money within the city's Internet Technology department.
The city would create hourly positions for students to develop these technologies and further educate city officials about new media technologies.
